He raised a wand above his head,
He traced a circle on the plain,
In a wild verse he called the dead,
The dead with silent footsteps came.

A burning brilliance on his head, 145
Flaming filled the stormy air,
In a wild verse he called the dead,
The dead in motley crowd were there.—­

’Ghasta!  Ghasta! come along,
Bring thy fiendish crowd with thee, 150
Quickly raise th’ avenging Song,
Ghasta!  Ghasta! come to me.’

Horrid shapes in mantles gray,
Flit athwart the stormy night,
’Ghasta!  Ghasta! come away, 155
Come away before ‘tis light.’

See! the sheeted Ghost they bring,
Yelling dreadful o’er the heath,
Hark! the deadly verse they sing,
Tidings of despair and death! 160

The yelling Ghost before him stands,
See! she rolls her eyes around,
Now she lifts her bony hands,
Now her footsteps shake the ground.

STRANGER: 
Phantom of Theresa say, 165
Why to earth again you came,
Quickly speak, I must away! 
Or you must bleach for aye in flame,—­

PHANTOM: 
Mighty one I know thee now,
Mightiest power of the sky, 170
Know thee by thy flaming brow,
Know thee by thy sparkling eye.

That fire is scorching!  Oh!  I came,
From the caverned depth of Hell,
My fleeting false Rodolph to claim, 175
Mighty one!  I know thee well.—­

STRANGER: 
Ghasta! seize yon wandering sprite,
Drag her to the depth beneath,
Take her swift, before ’tis light,
Take her to the cells of death! 180

Thou that heardst the trackless dead,
In the mouldering tomb must lie,
Mortal! look upon my head,
Mortal!  Mortal! thou must die.

Of glowing flame a cross was there, 185
Which threw a light around his form,
Whilst his lank and raven hair,
Floated wild upon the storm.—­

The warrior upwards turned his eyes,
Gazed upon the cross of fire, 190
There sat horror and surprise,
There sat God’s eternal ire.—­

A shivering through the Warrior flew,
Colder than the nightly blast,
Colder than the evening dew, 195
When the hour of twilight’s past.—­

Thunder shakes th’ expansive sky,
Shakes the bosom of the heath,
’Mortal!  Mortal! thou must die’—­
The warrior sank convulsed in death. 200

JANUARY, 1810.

NOTES:  114 its]it 1810. 115 What]query Which?